Sunday, October 7, 2012

Return to a Childhood Home

It’s often been said, “You can never go home again.” While
people have attributed that saying to various sources, or attached different meanings to
the phrase, I think it’s safe to say most people find themselves, at some
point, wanting to revisit their childhood home.

Such was the case with my maternal grandmother. As we saw
from the news clipping I mentioned yesterday, my grandmother did indeed make
that trip late in her life. While it entailed driving from her home in Ohio to Florida
after she and my grandfather were well into their retirement years, their
journey was, in essence, no different than anyone’s visit to an old hometown
might have been. After half a century, things are bound to change.

The difference with this visit was that it inspired some
small town newspaper columnist to write a bit about it in the local paper. All
it took was a childhood friend’s willingness to clip the mention out of the
paper and mail it back to the one who initiated the whole event. And voilà! I
have a story preserved by another ancestor who liked to keep records.

That record then touched off a chain reaction. True, for the
most part, it lay dormant in the Little Brown Book for decades. But once
uncovered, it got me started writing. I wrote a post about my grandmother the very first month I
started this blog.

What’s significant about that bit of information is that
someone happened to do an online search on my great-grandfather’s name just
about the time I finished that post. That post led someone to connect with me
who had news I would definitely want to hear: the old McClellan home was being
refurbished. The building that narrowly missed being demolished was now to become a
bed and breakfast!

While my grandmother never got to really go back home and
see the place as it used to be, if I ever get a chance to travel to Florida, I will be able to go back and see her
childhood home. In the meantime, evidently, so will everyone else.

Disclaimer: While the old family house has been converted from residential to commercial use, I have no connection to the business nor to the current owner, and received no compensation for this mention. However, don't let that stop you from ignoring that old Florida call to "Come on Down" if you can.

Something really strange happened when I read your comment today, Iggy. I thought, "Mickey Mouse ears...now why would she like that?!" My grandmother was a proper southern lady from a different generation, not at all what most people think of when they hear the word, "grandmother." She definitely wasn't someone who was into pop culture.

So you can see why I was stumped about your comment.

...until it dawned on me: what was she just returning from, according to this newspaper article?! Disney World! A place I'd never, ever have conceivably imagined my grandmother to be interested in! And yet, this simple clipping from a hometown newspaper revealed another facet of the woman I thought I knew much better!

Oh, Wendy, believe me: I'd absolutely love to go see it. It's just that there is a small matter of, oh, about three thousand miles between me and that point of interest. But the conniver and contriver in me will do my best to think of a way ;)

Betty, can you believe I've never even been to Florida?! Not once. Considering all the family heritage I'd find there, you'd think someone like me would make a beeline for the place. I'm hoping to, some day.

About Me

It is my contention that, after a lifetime, one of the greatest needs people have is to be remembered. They want to know: have I made a difference?
I write because I can't keep for myself the gifts others have entrusted to me. Through what I've already been given--though not forgetting those to whom I must pass this along--from family I receive my heritage; through family I leave a legacy. With family I weave a tapestry. These are my strands.